When I was 19-years-old, I purchased and acquired hundreds of classic Hollywood photos from a retailer who wanted to pass his photo collection before he passed. For several decades, friends and classic cinema fans have asked me to share my collection and I decided for the purpose of identification, I’m going to start sharing photos in my collection. I shared a few before but will be doing more in 2018.
So, I’ll showcase three every Sunday.
The first is of William Thomas aka “Buckwheat”. I recall seeing Thomas wearing the outfit in an episode and part of me wants to say “Our Gang Follies of 1938″ but I’m not really too sure. I was told that this image was quite popular and was reproduced a lot during the 1970′s. But I’m still trying to get more information on what episode and who are the two actresses featured on the photo.
Despite the stereotyping of Thomas’s character and other Black actors that worked during that time, many of the Black actors on “Little Rascals” have said they were treated like the other kids equally when they weren’t shooting and many have had positive things to say about series creator Hal Roach.
If anything, I’ve always been a fan of Little Rascals and the character of Buckwheat but was happy to read that Thomas worked hard in the military and as an editor for Technicolor and didn’t succumb to any narcotics or other negative predicaments that some of the few “Little Rascals” actors have found themselves in.
Thomas died at a young age of 49 from a heart attack.
The next image is of Laurel and Hardy for “Double Whoopee” (1929). In the photo are Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Jean Harlow, Charlie Hall or Ham Kinsey (Cabdriver).
The next image is of Carole Lombard and Clark Gable in “No Man of Her Own” (1932).
